Manunda coach Clinton Gribble was left frustrated with decisions he says helped swing Saturday's AFL Cairns grand final out of their reach. However, the dreadlocked coach, who was unable to play because of a season-ending knee injury, did not blame the officiating for the 49-point loss. Hawks trailed at every change, but they were able to narrow the margin to just four points at quarter-time and for the most of the second quarter were never further than a few goals down. Gribble did say some "interesting calls" particularly in the second quarter when the Hawks were mounting their charge, stifled their efforts to steal the lead off Saints. "I don't want to whinge and certainly full credit needs to go to Saints, but I definitely thought there was some inconsistancy there that didn't help our cause,'he said. "We were getting on top of them there and you're just left shaking your head." The Manunda faithful in the crowd would certainly agree with the coach, going up in chorus when not given what they deemed deserved free kicks. But in the end, Gribble blamed his side's inability to maintain midfield pressure on the 49-point loss. "Our back six were fantastic," he said. "We just couldn't sustain that in the middle for the entire contest."
Last Modified on 26/11/2012 14:54